Creation of a Community Participation Process

The OSA should encourage an inclusive and democratic planning process. This could be done only when there are grass-root initiatives that are headed by local communities.

Empowering communities to get involved in the design, management and ongoing maintenance of open spaces can help the community to take pride and ownership of spaces, reduce vandalism of facilities and anti-social behaviour (Planning Advice Note, The Scottish Government, 2008).

The OSA needs to identify Local Management Trusts (LMT), which can become a task force that includes residents, developers, non-profit organizations, business districts, local institutions and residential societies.